I am not an economics expert, but maybe I should be. Please point out the error in my logic if you can see it.
The new health care bill will force just about every american to have health insurance and prevent insurance companies from charging more for people who will be more expensive to insure (those who will need more medical attention). Therefore, they will have to charge more for everyone to make up for the cost.
I understand that we pay for some of these people allready because they are uninsured and the goverenment often times picks up their bill.
Nevertheless, many people will have to pay more to cover these more needy Americans. Likewise, many people who don't need insurance, or could get it for cheap now, will have to pay to insure that everyone is insured.
In addition, we will have increased demand for medical services because everyone will be covered. Increased demand without increased supply means increased prices. I would like to know how the government plans to increase supply of medicine, or if it can't, how much our costs will go up.
As I see it we have a bill that increases prices for some to decrease prices for others. We have a bill that increases demand but doesn't account for the increase in supply.
This system will help some at the expense of others and will certainly have a deadweight loss, as any market intervention does. Of course it will be nice if no one has to go without medical coverage, but some people will have to go without something else in order to get that coverage. We have a classic forgotten man situation. A (the governement) decides to help B (the uninsured). It does this by charging C (the insured, or those uninsured by choice) without consulting C, or considering the net loss of both B and C.
Most importantly this bill is meant to give insurance to people who wouldn't have it otherwise. But that is because those people don't value health insurance as much as other things they are spending money on, such as food, shelter, or education. By giving them insurance we are doing them less good than if we gave them cash or some other good or service that they value more. Basically we are taking money from some people in the form of taxes or forced insurance payments, and giving it to poor people who don't want it for what we make them spend it on. Son of a bitch.
Monday, March 29, 2010
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